The One Year Wisdom for Women Devotional: 365 Devotions through the Proverbs (49 page)

July 2

The Name of the Lord

     
The name of the L
ORD
is a strong tower;

     
The righteous run to it and are safe.

This is a powerful and important promise to you from God himself. Are you worried today? Are you facing trouble, opposition, persecution? The name of the Lord is a strong tower. Are you fearful, discouraged, or overwhelmed? The name of the Lord is a strong tower.

We have to realize that each title, each name for God given in the Bible, is not just what he is called. Each name describes who he is. Have you lost your way? Are you confused? He is the Light of the World. Do you need direction or protection? He is the Good Shepherd. He leads you beside still waters. He restores your soul.

There is no need too great for his powerful sufficiency. For he is God almighty! Are you grieving with a broken heart? He is the God of all comfort. He is the True Vine, the Chief Cornerstone, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. He is your Emmanuel, God with us. Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

So, child of God, we need to be students of, collectors of, and believers in the wonderful, manifold, and majestic names of our amazing God. And then we need to run into the presence of his person like we run to a mighty, unshakable tower, and we will be safe.

Make It Personal . . . Live It Out!

When we study the names of God, it increases our confidence in his character. We begin to know him. We learn he is trustworthy, powerful, noble, and good. Are you lacking confidence in God? Confidence is assurance, firm belief, trust, reliance. This is the substance of true faith. When our faith is shallow, we collapse and panic when trouble comes to our lives. We actually dishonor God by doubting and fretting. But when we know our God, we lean deeply into his strong and capable arms.

Psalm 139 speaks of God’s omniscience. Will you turn to it and read it before you go to bed tonight?
Jehovah-shammah
is the Hebrew name meaning “the Lord is there.” God knew you before you were born, and he’ll be there to call on to the end of your days.

One Year Bible Reading

2 Kings 20:1–22:2; Acts 21:18-36; Psalm 150:1-6; Proverbs 18:9-10

July 3

Haughty or Humble?

     
Haughtiness goes before destruction;

          
humility precedes honor.

Are we humble, or are we haughty when dealing with others?

A few days ago I was with a group of godly women, and we were discussing a problem. The problem is that in the summer sometimes women come to church wearing clothes that are very skimpy and immodest. This is very distracting and can lead the men to stumble. So the question is, how can we graciously help these women realize the need to dress modestly without being harsh and offending them? Some of my dearest friends who are now pastors’ wives share that the first time they came to church, they wore a miniskirt or a halter top. It never occurred to them that this was wrong.

• Don’t be haughty. Haughtiness is having or showing great pride in oneself and disdain or contempt for others. If we make women feel stupid, or flawed, or inferior, it will crush them—and maybe they will not come back.
  
• Pray first. Pray for wisdom, and grace, and gentle tact. In other words, be humble and sweet to this woman whom Christ died for. Listen to the wonderful advice given in 2 Timothy 2:24-26: “A servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will” (
  NKJV
  ).
  

Make It Personal . . . Live It Out!

Jesus is our most accurate and beautiful picture of true humility. Of course he was flawless, completely righteous. And yet the most desperate sinners were drawn to him. They felt safe in his presence because they
were
safe in his presence. This challenges and humbles me; doesn’t it you? Honestly, how do those who are hurting or poor or lost feel in our presence? Are we haughty or humble?

Let’s Pray

Lord, break my heart for the broken and weak. Help me to reflect your tender kindness to the poorest and the weakest, as you do. May your humble heart beat within me and your love shine through me.

One Year Bible Reading

2 Kings 22:3–23:30; Acts 21:37–22:16; Psalm 1:1-6; Proverbs 18:11-12

July 4

Learning to Listen

     
To answer before listening, that is folly and shame.

All right, this affirms what we should already know. We need to be better listeners. I am convinced that many of our problems are because we only half understand each other. We have not learned to talk things out and hear each other out. Honestly, I wish I were better at this. My parents didn’t really sit down to discuss serious issues with us when I was growing up. Still to this day, I feel I have much to learn.

Gary Smalley’s book
The DNA of Relationships
has an excellent chapter called “Emotional Communication: Listen with the Heart.” His points are very helpful. I’ll share four of them.

1. “Listen beyond the words to the feelings.” This is very important. Maybe your friend asks why you didn’t arrive on time, or she says that she’s angry that you forgot an appointment. Behind her anger is really a feeling that you don’t care. She’s hurt.
   
2. “Allow others’ emotions to touch you.” Don’t say, “You shouldn’t feel like that,” or, “Oh, just get over it.” People feel loved when they know you care.
   
3. “Communication is understanding, not determining who’s right.” If you are always trying to prove you are right and the other person is wrong, no one wins.
   
4. “Effective communication starts with safety.” Criticism and threats cause others to shut down.
   

Bottom line: let’s all be better listeners. Let’s be quick to hear and slow to speak.

Make It Personal . . . Live It Out!

The next time you are in an important conversation, practice the art of listening carefully. This is just as valuable in a pleasant conversation as it is when there’s a conflict. Here are some “active listening” skills.

• Don’t multitask while listening. Glancing at your phone screen or watch or the TV is a message that you’re only half there.
  
• Ask a few questions that show your interest.
  
• Reaffirm by saying things like, “That is interesting” or “I hear you.”
  

Let’s Pray

Lord, please help! I know I haven’t listened to others in the same way I would like them to listen to me. Help me to be patient. And most of all, help me to listen with a heart of love.

One Year Bible Reading

2 Kings 23:31–25:30; Acts 22:17–23:10; Psalm 2:1-12; Proverbs 18:13

July 5

Sustained

     
The spirit of a man will sustain him in sickness,

     
But who can bear a broken spirit?

My dear friend Carolyn was diagnosed with breast cancer two years ago. After a mastectomy, she had to go through six months of chemo and six weeks of radiation. She lost all of her hair, even her eyelashes. On top of that, she has two small children to care for. But I have to say, it’s been an amazing thing to watch her go through this. She is a living example of the fact that “the joy of the Lord is your strength.” Sometimes drawing back from the Lord and away from fellowship is the first thing that we as women do when we are sick or going through a hard time. Carolyn did just the opposite. She continued not only to allow her friends to minister to her, she continued to minister to others.

We can endure
physical
sickness and pain, but our proverb says, “Who can bear a broken spirit?” The answer for us as women is, no one. If you are reading today and you have been wounded, if you have a broken heart, doctors can medicate, but they cannot heal you. So please write down Isaiah 61. If you read it over and over again for ten straight days, you will find it’s a powerful prescription. Jesus came to heal the brokenhearted. He can turn your ashes into beauty. Jesus was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. In Psalm 23:3 David declared something you need to know. He said, “[The Lord] restores my soul” (
NKJV
). And, dear one, he can and will restore you.

Make It Personal . . . Live It Out!

Have you ever broken a bone? When you look at the X-ray, it is easy to see the jagged line. But a broken spirit can’t be seen on an X-ray or MRI. Worse yet, it is sometimes hard to understand the true reason we get to the point of despair. We as women are very complicated; we don’t even understand ourselves. Are you feeling low today, crushed, hopeless, hurting? God has something to say to you: “For I hold you by your right hand—I, the L
ORD
your God. And I say to you, ‘Don’t be afraid. I am here to help you’” (Isaiah 41:13).

One Year Bible Reading

1 Chronicles 1:1–2:17; Acts 23:11-35; Psalm 3:1-8; Proverbs 18:14-15